I've chosen to devote an entire chapter to the feature film "Dave" for a couple of reasons. First, I worked a total of 14 days on "Dave" spread over a period from August 20, 1992 through October 14, 1992, nearly two months. It seemed longer. Also, working on "Dave" was the most miserable experience I've had as an extra. Most of this chapter will cover the events that made working on "Dave" so unpleasant.
Since a lot of this chapter will relate negative experiences, I shall, to be fair, discuss some of the positive aspects of the movie. I saw the movie twice, once in a theater, and the other time on a VCR. It is an outstanding film, funny and at the same time poignant in spots. Everyone involved should be commended for their excellent work, from the director, Ivan Reitman, through the cast and crew, to the editors. Ivan Reitman, who also co-produced the movie, is obviously a creative genius. He has also directed films such as "Ghostbusters", "Twins", and "Kindergarten Cop". He is, to say the least, a perfectionist.
People who are creative geniuses and perfectionists are often also very poor with people. Ivan Reitman falls into that category to the extent that I considered him an asshole. This came about not only from things he did himself, but for the entire atmosphere on the set. I've gone through military basic training, where the intent is to humiliate people and break them down in order to build them into a cohesive, disciplined unit. The morale on the set of "Dave" was at least as bad, if not worse, than basic training, or boot camp. An interesting sidelight to Ivan Reitman is his uncanny resemblance to Gary Gaetti, a major league baseball player.
The producers and directors of a production set the tone, and the tone that Ivan Reitman et al set was one where everyone was fearful of everyone else and on edge all the time. The actors were somewhat immune to all of this, but even Kevin Kline, the star of the show, was harshly and unfairly criticized on at least one occasion that I witnessed. I've worked on enough other productions to know that the same excellent results could have been achieved with a management style more positive and more in tune with the 90's. In this very unpleasant atmosphere, the actors were treated with some respect, but hardly anyone else was, least of all the extras.
Everyone who I had to deal with and/or observe was affected to some extent by the unpleasant atmosphere on the set. Peter, the First AD was a New Yorker who exuded a New Yorker attitude in his demeanor. (I can say that, because my wife is from New York and we kid around about the demeanor of New Yorkers). I believe that part of Peter's job was to be Ivan Reitman's hatchet man. He was the one who was loudest and on everybody's case. A lot of people blamed Peter for the atmosphere on the set, but I think he was merely doing his job as he had been instructed, and he had the right personality to do it. He got on everybody, the 2nd AD, the PA's, property people, and just about everyone except the actors and skilled technicians such as camera and sound.
On the first day I worked on "Dave", a banquet scene was being filmed at a downtown hotel in Los Angeles. Peter was at the podium giving instructions to a couple of hundred extras seated at tables in the banquet room. One of the things Peter was emphasizing was the need to be absolutely quiet. One extra kept talking, even as Peter was giving his instructions. Peter immediately kicked him off the set, embarrassing him in front of a couple of hundred people. Actually, I think the guy had it coming, as we had been given clear instructions about keeping quiet. But the manner in which it was done set the tone for the entire film.
During these two days at the hotel, I talked briefly with a woman who was operating a stedicam (I'm not sure if I spelled that correctly), which is a portable camera that rests on the shoulder of the person operating it. It is used for scenes where the camera moves with the actors and requires a strong and steady person to operate it. This woman was very good at her job, and I remembered her from another show. We tried to figure out where I had seen her, but never did come to a conclusion.
One scene that took most of the second day to shoot was in the hallway at a hotel, where Kevin Kline's character Dave, impersonating the president, walked down the hall and out the door to a limo, waiving to the crowd. At one point John Goodman and Edward Hermann walked in waiving as a prank. Since Goodman had played Babe Ruth and Hermann had played Lou Gehrig, I thought to myself that here come Ruth and Gehrig.
At about the same time, an extra playing a Secret Service agent made some inappropriate comments and gestures about a female extra's cleavage in her evening gown. The woman didn't do anything, but the woman standing next to her raised hell, creating a scene. The gal who hadn't done anything except to be the object of the inappropriate behavior was released and told to go home. The extra playing the Secret Service agent was not. The excuse was that he had already been "established" in the scene and couldn't be released. Another example of how fairness was not a top priority of this production.
The scenes shot at the downtown Los Angeles hotel took two days. The extras parked in a parking structure across the street from the hotel. At the end of the first night, which ended after midnight, the extras had to walk to the parking structure with a lot of street people bothering us without any security. Then it took nearly two hours to get everyone out of the parking lot, because there was no preparation for the volume of traffic that was leaving at approximately the same time.
After working two days on "Dave" at the hotel and experiencing what I've just described as well as the meal that was four hours late, which I mentioned in Chapter 6, the next day on "Dave" was the worst for me personally and changed my attitude for the remainder of my 14 days. A scene was being shot at Warner Brothers studio, which was a scene when the character Dave was using robotic arms in a machine shop. Several dozen extras, as reporters and camera operators, were covering the event. Ivan Reitman was continually exhorting the extras to show more energy. At one point, the cameras were panning the extras in close ups and suddenly, Ivan stopped and shouted that one extra was "overacting". That turned out to be me. Peter pulled me out of the scene and embarrassed me in front of dozens of people by making me stand all by myself as if I were standing in a corner. Apparently even Ivan thought that was a little too severe and apologized to me and told me that he realized I was just trying to follow his instructions and had me return to the back of where the dozens of extras were standing.
Whatever I was doing wrong, I should have been told specifically what it was and preferably not in front of so many people. Most directors would have merely not used that particular shot, since much more is cut on the editing room floor than appears on screen, and my close up was certainly not important to that scene.
I later learned that after that incident several extras refused to return to "Dave" even though they had been fit for recurring roles. I was specifically told that an extra named Star, an attractive brunette woman probably in her late 30's, had said she would not work on a set that treated anybody like that.
I continued to work in "Dave" for 11 more days, even though I would rather not have. There were several reasons for this. One is that I've never quit anything and never let unpleasantness drive me away. I learned in the army that I can take just about anything. I guess I'm just stubborn. Another reason is that I felt a duty to Veronica, who cast the non union extras on that show. She was caught in the middle between many extras complaining about the show and the production company complaining about the extras. I didn't want to add to her troubles. Once when she called me for work, I told her "Dave" was not my favorite show to work on, but that I would do it for her. She thanked me and said she would show her appreciation by casting me on some good jobs later, which she eventually did. So I wound up working on "Dave" every time I was asked and dreading every minute of it. I usually have fun on shows and enjoy the opportunity to be on camera. But on "Dave" from that point on I tried to hide from the camera and be as inconspicuous as possible. Even so, I saw myself in the movie several times.
To be fair to Peter, he would back up an extra if he thought the extra was in the right. In a later scene, set in the cabinet room of the White House, I was one of several reporters with camcorders in attendance at a cabinet meeting. The prop I had as a camcorder was defective and kept falling out of its socket. Ivan noticed this and hollered at me. Peter came over and looked at the camcorder and told Ivan that the camcorder was "a piece of shit", so I was off the hook. Naturally the prop people weren't too happy as they took the heat. I actually was treated pretty well by Peter except for the one incident.
Two days were spent in East Los Angeles on "Dave", filming a scene set at a homeless shelter. These two days were relatively uneventful, and I remember that all I wanted was to be inconspicuous. At that, I later saw a picture that included me in TV Guide that was taken from a scene at the homeless shelter.
Three days were shot at the arboretum in Arcadia, where a facade of the exterior of the White House was set up. The days were extremely hot, and as usual, the comfort of the extras was not a high priority. Several scenes were shot, one of which involved a military helicopter landing on the premises. We actually looked forward to the breeze generated by the helicopter's propellers, because it was the only chance to get cool. We spent all the time in the hot sun and were without any shade or water for hours. It got so bad on the second of the three days that some of the SAG extras called the Screen Actors Guild to complain. As a result SAG sent out a "spy" to find out what was going on. The spy pretended to be an extra and asked a production assistant named Mike permission to go to the bathroom. It was denied, so this guy said he had to go and was going anyway. Mike screamed at him that he would take away his voucher (in effect fire him). The spy in turn took Mike's name and reported him.
Shortly after this incident SAG closed down the production. The extras were sent home without any explanation or with the false explanation that there were problems with the helicopter. We were told to return the next day, but this was subsequently changed to the following Monday. We only found out much later that the reason for the abrupt dismissal was that SAG had closed down production as a punishment for the working conditions. At least, after signing out, we were given the option of having a meal, since the shortened day had not been anticipated and the food would have gone to waste.
In addition to closing down production, Mike was fired. Mike had been constantly screaming at extras on all of the days of shooting to that point. He was a chain smoker who many thought may have been on cocaine. He was out of control and blamed the extras even when the crew was the guilty party at making noise. If Peter was Ivan's hatchet man, Mike was Peter's. Despite Mike's hyperactive screaming, which many attributed to drugs, I thought part of the problem was that Mike was always being screamed at and was passing it on to the extras. Interestingly enough, I'm not sure, but I believe I worked with Mike on another show later and he was a completely different person. He was calm, considerate, and completely professional. The reason I think it may have been the same person is the name Mike, and a couple of extras said they believed it was the same person. It's amazing what a change in atmosphere can do.
In contrast to the way Mike reacted to this atmosphere, I was particularly impressed by the professionalism of two people. One was Katy, the 2nd AD, and the other was Jonathan, a production assistant. Katy was excellent at her job, which included placing of extras in all the scenes. She never lost her cool, even though in this atmosphere we knew Peter was always yelling at her about any problem with the extras. Late one Friday night, in the cabinet room scene where extras were at the end of the room as reporters with camcorders, the extras kept wandering out of the cramped area between takes and had to be relocated each time. Everybody was tired, the same scene was being shot over and over again, and everybody had been there for around 14 hours. Katy merely said, with a sigh of resignation, "Please stay put, it's late and I'm too tired to be yelled at".
Most of the other PAs, like Mike, were constantly being yelled at by Peter, and to one degree or another took it out on the extras. Jonathan was the exception. He was an easy going guy whom I believe was from either England or Scotland. He was easy to work with compared to many of the others.
The scenes shot during the last six days I worked on Dave were shot at Warner Brothers. These were White House interior sets, including the cabinet room, the press room, and some hallway scenes. There was also one brief scene at Warner Brothers that was supposed to be in a school lunch room. Arnold Schwartznegger, playing himself in a cameo role, was giving a talk to the kids about nutrition.
The final scenes I worked on were the press room scenes, which included several press conferences and White House Correspondent Helen Thomas, as I mentioned in Chapter 4, as well as at least two other real life Washington reporters. Helen was perplexed that the wardrobe department wouldn't let her wear her trademark red dress, but in Hollywood, red is usually not worn except for people in the most prominent roles. She seemed to be a nice woman and told a few of us extras that she didn't know how we did it.
The last scene I worked on was in the press room where the character Dave, as the president, gave a lengthy and inspirational speech to the press corps. This scene was shot over and over again at several angles and took two or three days to complete. As usual, I was trying to remain inconspicuous, but at one point Peter told me to place myself in a location that was to be quite visible. Ivan overruled Peter and selected someone else. I later heard from another extra, who was closer to where Ivan and Peter were standing, that Ivan told Peter sarcastically "my favorite extra". I knew Ivan had a memory like an elephant, and this confirmed it.
On the last day I worked on "Dave" they were shooting Dave's press conference aiming the cameras toward Dave. Extras filled out the seats, merely to give Kevin Kline an eyeline for his speech. Kevin walked in as if he were a school teacher and asked us jokingly if we had completed our homework. Then he turned to Peter and asked him why we were there, that we'd heard his speech so many times the day before that we were probably sick and tired of it. Peter told him that it was for his eyeline, and Kevin replied it wasn't necessary and that we didn't have to be there. I will forever be grateful to Kevin Kline for this gracious gesture.
Unlike much of "Dave", working with Kevin Kline was a positive experience. He is an excellent actor and is very relaxed and friendly. During one lunch break he was outside his trailer, where his wife and small son were on that day. He was playing with his baby son, and as I walked by I asked him "is he yours?", and he replied "he sure is". During the filming of a scene in the cabinet room, Ivan told him to walk slower. When he did, Ivan then told him to walk faster. Kevin smiled, looked at the extras, and shrugged his shoulders.
The final day I worked on "Dave" turned out to be the best day of the 14 days I worked on the show. The main reason was that I knew it was the last day, even though some of the wardrobe people were kidding that you never know when you might be called back. The day got off to a good start when Kevin Kline told Peter he didn't need us for eyeline. I was euphoric when around noon I was released for the final time, a two month nightmare being over. And the four hours in between were pleasant. In the extras holding area a young woman, without saying a word, decided to give me a massage of my back and shoulders. It was the best massage I've ever had. When she was finished, I thanked her, and she said she used to give her father back rubs all the time. She had earlier made some good vocal impersonations of cartoon characters. I saw this gal one other time. She was a stand-in for one of the dancers on the feature film "Sister Act 2". I recognized her on the set of that show and mentioned "Dave". She hugged me and thanked me for remembering her. Hopefully she does well in her career. The last day on "Dave" was certainly a contrast with all of the other days.
This page was last updated on September 13, 2003
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